New
Free Online Calculator Shows What Response Rate Your Direct Mail
Promotion Needs to Generate For It to Be Profitable

Dumont, NJ – You’re getting ready to send out a direct mail
campaign. What response rate do you need to have a profitable
mailing? Now you can find out with a free online tool, Bob Bly’s
Direct Response ROI Calculator, at: www.dmresponsecalculator.com.

When you click on the site, you can access a free “break-even
calculator.” You enter the mailing costs – postage, list rental,
printing, and so on. The tool automatically calculates the response
rate you need to break even.

According to Bly, a freelance copywriter specializing in direct
response, “The inexperienced mailer focuses on number of replies,
while experienced direct marketers want to know what response rate is
needed for the mailing to break even.”

The Direct Response ROI Calculator determines net revenue per order
by subtracting the cost of goods from the purchase price of the
product.

The mailing cost is calculated by adding up postage, mailing list
rental fees, printing, and “letter shop” fees – what it costs
to have a direct mail service assemble the components of the mailing
and send it out. Copywriting, graphic design, illustration, and other
one-time costs to create the mailing are not factored into the
break-even calculation.

“Break-even calculations are made based on the recurring cost per
thousand to mail the piece,” notes Bly.

When is a direct mail campaign considered a success? “That depends
on the marketer,” says Bly. “Some marketers want to break even on
the initial mailing, while others want to make money – say $1.50 or
$2 in sales for every $1 spent in the mail. A few are even willing to
lose money on the front-end.”

According to Bly, the “front end” is the revenue from the
initial sale to a customer; the back end is revenue from additional
sales made to that same customer.

“Almost all direct response companies make the bulk of their
profit on the back end,” says Bly.

“Let’s say the ROI Calculator determines that your mailing would
break even with a one percent response rate,” says Bly. “That
means if you can get a 2 percent response rate, you’d double your
money, making in sales twice as much money as you spent on the
mailing.

There is no charge to use Bob Bly’s Direct Response ROI Calculator
to determine the response rate your direct mail campaign needs to
break even. To access the tool online, go to:www.dmresponsecalculator.com

ABOUT BOB BLY: Bob Bly is a freelance
copywriter specializing in direct marketing whose clients include
IBM, Nortel, Medical Economics, Sony, and Boardroom. He is the author
of 75 books including The
Copywriter’s Handbook (Henry
Holt). For more free resources for direct marketers, visit his Web
site at www.bly.com